San Diego  The San Diego Chargers are hoping to complete a proposal by year’s end that would use public land at the sports arena, Qualcomm Stadium and downtown to generate revenue for a long-sought new venue without additional taxpayer dollars.

Under the plan, the team would spend millions of dollars campaigning for a November 2016 ballot measure that could pass with a simple majority vote because it’s not a tax increase requiring two-thirds voter approval.

Mark Fabiani, the team’s special counsel and spokesman on the stadium issue, said ongoing discussions with Mayor Kevin Faulconer and his staff surround tying the current stadium and sports arena sites in with city and county owned land in the East Village.

The other properties being discussed are the city-owned Wonder Bread building property off L Street adjacent to Tailgate Park, an MTS bus yard owned by the county, and the city’s sports arena, known as Valley View Casino Center.

Fabiani told more than three dozen people from the group LEAD San Diego on Thursday about the plan.

He said Qualcomm and the sports arena site would be ceded to a private owner for redevelopment, with a portion of resulting profits channeled to the Chargers to pay about 65 percent of an estimated $1 billion downtown stadium. Qualcomm’s redevelopment would include a riverfront park and open space.

The Chargers would put up $400 million, including a $200 million loan from the National Football League, Fabiani said.

“Our idea is to knit these pieces of land together and then bring in a private developer to do the development and generate enough revenue ... to provide the 65 percent stadium cost need,” Fabiani said during an early morning presentation at Qualcomm Stadium. “The project is paid for right at the start. This can work, but it’s going to take a huge vision.”

The Chargers remain open about which site will host the new stadium, Fabiani said, but prefer downtown because of available parking on Sundays, existing infrastructure and multiple transportation links.

Talks with Faulconer’s office are going well, he said, and reflect what the Chargers see as a return to stability at City Hall. The team won’t move forward, he suggested, with a proposal that doesn’t have mayoral blessing.

Faulconer spokesman Craig Gustafson said discussions are ongoing.

“We look forward to seeing a formal proposal,” he said. “Any deal would have to — as the mayor has said — protect San Diego taxpayers.”

City resident Michael Reading said he would object to any municipal asset going to help pay for a new stadium.

“I don’t want any of my tax dollars or city land put into it,” he said.

Doing nothing, Fabiani said in response to audience questions, would mean the city of San Diego and its taxpayers would continue to have to pay about $15 million a year — $180 million since the talk about a new stadium began — in maintenance costs for its 48-year-old stadium and eventually an estimated $70 million in deferred maintenance costs.

The Chargers’ argument for public contribution to the project is rooted in the way nearly all new NFL stadiums have been built in recent years, which Fabiani said average 65 percent of the bill. Tapping existing tax revenues or seeking a new tax would fall flat, he said.

“We can’t get public funds for this project, so we have to find another way to do this,” Fabiani said. “If the Spanos family had to fund the entire cost, it would put the franchise at an immediate economic disadvantage in comparison to all the teams who got new stadiums built with taxpayer contributions.

“The point of a new stadium is to have an economically competitive franchise that is wedged in the community permanently and able to compete on a level playing field with other teams in the league.”

One scenario for a countywide ballot measure is asking voters to approve the land donation and redevelopment and possibly establish a stadium authority to oversee the project. The plan also envisions a San Diego legislator sponsoring a bill that would speed consideration of environmental challenges, similar to legislation that was approved for a new National Basketball Association arena in Sacramento and a football stadium in Los Angeles.

Fabiani also disclosed that during Super Bowl 2012, former Mayor Bob Filner verbally agreed with the concept of donating city land.

Chargers President Dean Spanos has been resolute on the stadium issue and spent roughly $15 million thus far on the effort, Fabiani said.

“We certainly know that he is the man that has kept the Chargers in San Diego,” Fabiani said. “If he weren’t the owner, I think the team would have been gone a long time ago.”

Corporations interested in naming rights are already knocking at the door, according to Fabiani. Qualcomm paid $17 million for 20-year naming rights in 1997.